Questions about the phantom's materials and preparation

[BrunnhildePonsi]

Hi, thanks for publishing this, it is helpful to have an available recipe on how to build a phantom whose properties mimic human tissues.
For our lab, we would like to build both the original phantom and a modified version of it. After reading the directions, we have some inquiries about the phantom's materials and preparation:

• We cannot find the same mouthwash you used. So, we are wondering why you added mouthwash and why you used an alcohol-free version. What are the ingredients we should look for in a mouthwash?
• How did you manage to avoid bubbles while pouring the solution in the phantom?
• We have been looking for the effect of Agar and sugar on the T1 relaxation in the literature. It seems that sugar does not have a big effect (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/mrm.25329), and Agar reduces the T1 value (https://doi.org/10.1002/acm2.13533). However, an Agar concentration of 0.75% does not seem to be enough to explain the reduction of the T1 value down to ~500 ms. Do have any insights regarding this? Maybe other ingredients could have an effect?

We ask additional questions in issues #1 and #2 .